MK Closing at 9pm? What?

[Madonna3]

So, hubby and I booked a couples trip for 05/28-06/04. I figured later hours due to Memorial Day crowds, school out, etc. NOPE! MK closes at 9pm all week except for one day with evening EMH until 11?

What's going on with crappy MK hours?!

 

[Robo]

Those dates are too far off for the accurate hours to be posted, yet.

Just keep checking.


BTW, this info has become, far and away, my most-posted information over the last couple of years.

Disney has decided that they don't need to bother to post accurate hours and events until within 2-4 weeks before the actual dates.

 

[disnut8]

Those dates are too far off for the accurate hours to be posted, yet.

Just keep checking.


BTW, this info has become, far and away, my most-posted information over the last couple of years.

Disney has decided that they don't need to bother to post accurate hours and events until within 2-4 weeks before the actual dates.

Do you think that's because people complain when the hours and events change a few weeks before and people have already made their plans? Just wondering how others feel about this. I personally don't have my days carved in stone but others might.

 

[mom2rtk]

Do you think that's because people complain when the hours and events change a few weeks before and people have already made their plans? Just wondering how others feel about this. I personally don't have my days carved in stone but others might.

I think it's because Disney wants as much data as possible on expected crowds before committing to their offerings. MM+ was all about big data, and they need that data to "right size" their hours and staffing.

 

[Madonna3]

Those dates are too far off for the accurate hours to be posted, yet.

Just keep checking.


BTW, this info has become, far and away, my most-posted information over the last couple of years.

Disney has decided that they don't need to bother to post accurate hours and events until within 2-4 weeks before the actual dates.

Do you think that's because people complain when the hours and events change a few weeks before and people have already made their plans? Just wondering how others feel about this. I personally don't have my days carved in stone but others might.

I think it's because Disney wants as much data as possible on expected crowds before committing to their offerings. MM+ was all about big data, and they need that data to "right size" their hours and staffing.

Hmm... this is all interesting. I find it especially interesting because I will actually PLAN my stays around the latest park hours. If there is a week that's not a holiday week (like 4th or Xmas) where MK closes consistently at 11pm or later, I will actually book a stay during that week because we're night owls. To find a current schedule of 9pm is extremely disappointing because there are just not enough late night options.

I wonder if this is in any way an attempt to drive people toward Disney Springs.

 

[mom2rtk]

I wonder if this is in any way an attempt to drive people toward Disney Springs.

Only if they actually stick with the earlier closing times.

Of course, with Pandora opening and them adding more hours at that park, I wouldn't be shocked to see them trying to cut hours in the other parks and push bodies to AK at night and recoup some of those added costs.

 

[Madonna3]

Only if they actually stick with the earlier closing times.

Of course, with Pandora opening and them adding more hours at that park, I wouldn't be shocked to see them trying to cut hours in the other parks and push bodies to AK at night and recoup some of those added costs.

But do you think we're going to see hours for AK expand past 9pm? For that to work, AK would have to be open to midnight.

 

[mom2rtk]

But do you think we're going to see hours for AK expand past 9pm? For that to work, AK would have to be open to midnight.

I don't know what we'll see out of AK. But I think I saw something about them adding EMH every night for a period of time. Disney doesn't like to just "add" new stuff without taking stuff away elsewhere.

My guess is they will extend past 9 in the MK, but not as late as prior years. (Once again, purely a guess).

 

[Catvondita]

Hmm... this is all interesting. I find it especially interesting because I will actually PLAN my stays around the latest park hours. If there is a week that's not a holiday week (like 4th or Xmas) where MK closes consistently at 11pm or later, I will actually book a stay during that week because we're night owls. To find a current schedule of 9pm is extremely disappointing because there are just not enough late night options.

I wonder if this is in any way an attempt to drive people toward Disney Springs.

I'm the same way. I'm trying to figure out what days to do what but need the actual park hours to help me decide. If there's a park that opens late that's the park we would want to stay at for that day. Or do a half day at one park and end the day at the later hours park. We need to know what days to do what so we can plan our fastpasses :/

 

[wilkeliza]

The only advice I can give is plan for what is posted now and make your decisions at 60 days (or 30) based on that but be flexible. They don't often change hours to be less (except if there is a press event or buy out that wasn't on the books at 60 days out) but they do change to more. I always see more as a plus but can see where others would be disappointed in that. We have park hoppers or APs so never have issues hopping to the park that is open later.

 

[Lesverts]

Just to point out something. During your dates (which are also my dates give or take). Disney has already increased AK from 7 to 9/10 and DHS from 830 to 930. The DHS hours are of particular interest because 8:30 with a few days of 10 are typical for that time of year. Disney went with a straight 930 across the board until the start of June. Where hours have yet to be touched.

 

[Paula Sedley-Burke]

They had something similar last year for our trip but they did change later on. I would hang on and see.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I've been watching many-a-threads on hours and picking up on snippets here and there from other threads. Seems to be for a while..maybe even a year now (don't know for sure though) that parks hours were updated often (though not always) a month or so before a person's trip..sometimes it was even tighter and just several weeks or maybe they switched EMH for a certain park.

It's frustrating for sure. I had to make my ADRs (made 3 total) I believe it was March 12th and here I was trying really hard to plan out my 5-day WDW and 3-day USO trip with the hours given. I knew that AK would be extended past 7pm and sure enough sometime mid-to-late last week they were updated to 9pm but also Epcot was updated from 9pm to 10pm for 3 days worth of a vacation (not necessarily days I was going to be at Epcot).

I expect already that the hours will likely be updated again and probably under the FP+ window too...I'm just that much more grateful I have hoppers;time suckers for sure but they do allow flexibility to hop to a park unexpectedly to enjoy later hours (should that happen that is;can't do much though if that was a planned USO day).

 

[Madonna3]

I've been watching many-a-threads on hours and picking up on snippets here and there from other threads. Seems to be for a while..maybe even a year now (don't know for sure though) that parks hours were updated often (though not always) a month or so before a person's trip..sometimes it was even tighter and just several weeks or maybe they switched EMH for a certain park.

It's frustrating for sure. I had to make my ADRs (made 3 total) I believe it was March 12th and here I was trying really hard to plan out my 5-day WDW and 3-day USO trip with the hours given. I knew that AK would be extended past 7pm and sure enough sometime mid-to-late last week they were updated to 9pm but also Epcot was updated from 9pm to 10pm for 3 days worth of a vacation (not necessarily days I was going to be at Epcot).

I expect already that the hours will likely be updated again and probably under the FP+ window too...I'm just that much more grateful I have hoppers;time suckers for sure but they do allow flexibility to hop to a park unexpectedly to enjoy later hours (should that happen that is;can't do much though if that was a planned USO day).

Well that's certainly an interesting trend I hadn't noticed before. I think 90+ days is more acceptable than 60. I guess the hours matter slightly to me because we were going to do a California Grill and wanted to time it to where we could see the fireworks from the terrace for no other reason than it's a perspective we hadn't seen before. To find that I can't rely on hours at what (70ish) days in advance is frustrating. I guess my focus is only on MK. The rest of the parks are gravy if they stay open later. We don't find ourselves wanting for more than EP or MK to stay open later as EP is our fave with MK coming in second when I want to time something to a show. So, it's not my fastpass windows that are affected, but my dining so I feel even more impacted than usual.

 

[scrapquitler]

So, hubby and I booked a couples trip for 05/28-06/04. I figured later hours due to Memorial Day crowds, school out, etc. NOPE! MK closes at 9pm all week except for one day with evening EMH until 11?

What's going on with crappy MK hours?!

DOn't panic. My trip is next week. When I booked my FP at 60 days out, MK was closing every day at 9 except one 10 pm and 11pm one night. Now that the dates are closer, MK is closing every night at 11, except one, with a 10pm close. They are most likely going to extend the hours when the dates get closer. It's normal now.

 

[FredtheDuck]

I'm glad you posted this because I didn't know, and have the same(ish) dates as you. MK has an EMH one of the nights, and we've already reserved a sitter for our kid for that night, so the fact that hours might change around is something we'll have to watch... Everything else we have is more flexible.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Well that's certainly an interesting trend I hadn't noticed before. I think 90+ days is more acceptable than 60. I guess the hours matter slightly to me because we were going to do a California Grill and wanted to time it to where we could see the fireworks from the terrace for no other reason than it's a perspective we hadn't seen before. To find that I can't rely on hours at what (70ish) days in advance is frustrating. I guess my focus is only on MK. The rest of the parks are gravy if they stay open later. We don't find ourselves wanting for more than EP or MK to stay open later as EP is our fave with MK coming in second when I want to time something to a show. So, it's not my fastpass windows that are affected, but my dining so I feel even more impacted than usual.

Oh I hear ya and I hope in the end you do get to California Grill at the time to enjoy those fireworks from that view.

I mean the closer to my vacation I get there is a potential risk that trying to change my dining plans won't work out because of what is available.

And for me I'm trying to balance out WDW days with the USO days (where I have park-to-park tickets) with their hours they have trying to maximize USO time so I put my days there where Universal Studios is open til 8:30 rather than 6pm (with the exception of the last day of park days planned where the Studios close at 5pm due to HHN). IAO is til 7pm all nights.

It can be a poor guest experience IMO for those that do actually plan out for their Disney trip and then run into these unknowns. This will be our first trip making ADRs, utilizing the new FP+ system, staying on-site vs off-site, using MBs and really making concrete plans for which park which day versus a rough plan that is much easier to change on the fly so yeah it might be quite a trip for us.

 

[Willow1213]

So, hubby and I booked a couples trip for 05/28-06/04. I figured later hours due to Memorial Day crowds, school out, etc. NOPE! MK closes at 9pm all week except for one day with evening EMH until 11?

What's going on with crappy MK hours?!

Well, if you guys are night owls you could always join the DIS team for their 20th anniversary party on 6/1! Just announced today, Epcot after hours party from 10-Midnight.

 

[Madonna3]

Well, if you guys are night owls you could always join the DIS team for their 20th anniversary party on 6/1! Just announced today, Epcot after hours party from 10-Midnight.

I *just* saw that and we will be there, so yeah I think we should!

 

[Bullseye]

Last year we were there first 1.5 weeks of June. The first week MK had early closings 9 or 10 pm. The second week opened up a little, I think 11pm.

It is kind of a drag because parks hours and EMH schedule are the first thing I check when starting trip planning. Used to be that the hours were known much further out...at least a few months.